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Africa could face an estimated 13.6 million additional malaria cases and 104,000 deaths if the United States withdraws funding from the President’s Malaria Initiative in 2025. In response, a recent study by The Lancet recommends expanding local drug production and prioritising local financing to sustain malaria control across the continent.
Kenya became the first country in Africa to locally produce sulfadoxine–pyrimethamine plus amodiaquine (SPAQ) in 2024. This WHO-approved drug is used for seasonal malaria prevention.
Only six pharmaceutical firms on the continent have achieved WHO-prequalification. Most antimalarial drugs are still imported from India and China, yet climate change is also expected to expand malaria zones, increasing demand and exposing the limits of this external dependency.
Our take: Fluctuating funding priorities can stall progress and disrupt supply chains…Read more (2 min)
Africa's increasing mobile phone usage has driven a wave of digital health innovations. However, these tools alone cannot address the continent's healthcare access challenges. In a guest article, Mike Adeyemi Lawal of Médecins Sans Frontières argues that poor infrastructure, critical shortages of health workers and systemic inequities remain the real barriers.
Despite challenges in rural connectivity and the limitations of certain apps, meaningful technology can still be effective when tailored to the local context and integrated with health systems. Promising examples include SMS vaccine reminders and decision-support apps for community health workers.
Lawal emphasises that digital tools usually strengthen rather than replace real healthcare systems across Africa.
Click the link to read the full op-ed…Read more (2 min)
Amazon Web Services has launched a Health AI Hub to support healthcare innovation across the continent. The platform enables healthcare institutions to develop, test and deploy Artificial Intelligence solutions in as little as 24 hours. It provides tools for clinical decision-making, medical research and workflow automation.
The initiative addresses key challenges faced by African healthcare organisations in adopting generative AI, including data privacy concerns, complex development processes, fragmented health data and a lack of technical capacity.
AI enhances diagnosis and prediction by rapidly analysing large volumes of patient data, including medical histories, lab results and scans. As climate change increases the complexity and burden of disease, machine learning models are essential for processing diverse health data to deliver faster, more accurate insights.
Our take: Without targeted upskilling and supportive policies, there is a risk that AI innovations remain underutilised…Read more (2 min)
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Zambia pilots an AI tool for analysing drug interactions and improving patient safety
Events
🗓️ Join the International Conference on Neurology in Ghana (July 02)
🗓️ Attend the Africa Health Business Symposium in Nigeria (July 16)
🗓️ Participate in the World Health Expo in Kenya (October 6)
Jobs
🧑⚕️ Apply to be the Patient Care Technician at Peterson Health (Cameroon)
🧑⚕️ Join the International Medical Corps as an Assistant Nurse (Cameroon)
🧑⚕️ Become the Patient Services Coordinator at Sigma Consulting Group (Nigeria)
🧑⚕️ Be the next Nutrition Specialist at UNICEF (Burundi)
Various
💉 Research develops all-in-one vaccine against deadly diseases
💰 Kenya slashes community health promoters’ budget by $11 million
💰 WHO warns of a health financing emergency in Africa
Seen on LinkedIn
Ashna Kibria, a Global Health Strategist at USAID, says, “The sudden dismantling of USAID has led to loss of valued health partnerships. The impact on communities has been devastating. But sometimes disruption creates the space we need for reflection.”
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